`Hollywood' Coming To Town With Movie Shoot

July 27, 1994|By BONNIE G. DRESNER; Courant Correspondent

EAST GRANBY — The couple runs along the bridge with the villains close behind. Cornered and facing a near-certain death at the hands of gun-wielding bad guys, the man and woman jump 40 feet into the icy waters below.

Cut. That's a wrap.

The magic of Hollywood will come to town within a few weeks, when a movie production company sets up camp in Granbrook Park.

The movie, titled ``High Impact,'' is an action-adventure film co-written by Courant columnist Susan Campbell. The plot has two drug enforcement agents tracking down a drug cartel that plans to bring dope in from Canada in hollow logs.

Two stunt people working on the made-for-video movie will be taking the plunge from an old railroad bridge into the shallow waters of Salmon Brook.

``We are at the top of the bridge when there is a shootout,'' said lead actor and co-writer Jerry Heines about the sequence being filmed. ``When the good guys get overpowered, we just jump off the bridge.''

Actually, the good guys don't jump. They finish the scene on the bridge, then change places with two stunt people who make the leap. Cardboard boxes, covering an area 12 by 15 feet wide and 6 feet high, will be piled below to absorb the fall.

``I have been out there three or four times checking the landing area,'' said stunt and special effects coordinator Kent Karieva, one of the two people taking the fall. ``For the stunt, it is a clean area, it is wide open and we don't have many obstacles to worry about.''

No obstacles to worry about?

``There is always the risk of missing the boxes,'' Karieva said. ``You can push off too hard; you don't want to go head first.''

Town officials have asked for documents from the production company stating that insurance is in order and the town will not assume any liability.

Other scenes for ``High Impact'' have been shot in Canton and Simsbury. There are plans to do more filming in town on a cliff overlooking the Tariffville Gorge.

The timing of the filming will depend on weather and other logistical factors, Heines said. The crew hopes to wrap up filming by Labor Day.